as the title says im considering going back to the game. I played it for about 5 months after release and then was busy and soon stopped paying. Now that i have a better graphics card and many bugs have been worked out, i want to know if it is worth going back. I dont have problems with bugs, even during release i didnt care beacuse it was fun, inlike WAR which crashed every 4 hours during beta and then every hour after release. But to convince me to go back i need hard numbers. From what i hear after a few months the game dropped to roughly 40k subs. Does anyone know what it is today? and can you really persuade me to go back?

They have made some really good improvements with the engine, framerates, content and bugs. In addition to the new trial/starter Isle which gives very nice starting gear for level 10 in all 3 spheres of the game. If you want to try it out, and dont really knwo if you want to shell out the monthly sub, just get a trial key and setup a new account using it and give the Isle a whirl for your 14 days to test it out. Then if you are convinced to play again, you can just resub as an option.

If nothing else, I would say give it another try, they have made some really great improvements and are in the process of releasing a major content update, including a level cap increase and the addition of EQ/EQ2 type AAs, a couple of new high level zones and content, and adding enhancement slots to items.

i was actually contemplating the 14 day trial thing, but what is AAS?

does anyoen know the numbers on whos playing?

Originally posted by Windstryder

are in the process of releasing a major content update, including a level cap increase and the addition of EQ/EQ2 type AAs, a couple of new high level zones and content, and adding enhancement slots to items.

Curious...  When do you hear/suppose/rumor that these updates will be implemented?

AA= Alternate Advancement  extra abilities you can use to customize your characters, that enhance, add or improve existing abilities.

No clue on numbers, but on Seradon the trial/starter isle usually has 30-40 players most of the time, and the community is still very good with offering help and answering questions.

The changes are already happening, and they will continue to add more in over the next couple of months they said.

In the Works - Short Term
01/27/2009

The Vanguard Team is hard at work and here's a brief look at what's coming up!

Some of these goodies are slated for the next few updates that you'll see hit the live servers and some might be something that you'll see on your server a little bit further down the road. Stay tuned as we update this list and give you all the low down on what you can expect to see in Vanguard!

* Appearance Slots (Added already)
* Pantheon of the Ancients 6-man dungeon
* Level cap increase to 55 (Also added I believe as I have seen a few sigs with 55 listed)
* Halls of Blood Raid dungeon
* Garuzamut Encounter
* Alternate Advancement System
* Nexus 6-man dungeon
* Nexus Raid Dungeon

- The Vanguard Team

You can read the whole article here vgplayers.station.sony.com/inTheWorks.vm

I'm not sure what the overall subscription numbers are, but right now Seradon is enjoying it's best population since right after the server merge.  I think the other two PvE servers are very healthy too.  You'll also see server pops at medium when picking a server, which hasn't happened for 1.5 years. 

Some of the additions mentioned above are in already.  Enhancements and armor modification slots are in, armor-look customization via appearance slots is in, fishing is in, Shores of Darkness was released a while back and Isle of Gazumet and Bridge of destiny were released more recently. 

On test they have the level cap increase to 55 as well as Pantheon of the Ancients.  If it's on test, it's probably a month away or less.  AAs will be modeled after EQ and happen after the level increase.